Most shops have now stopped selling tube based TV’s and as such when your current TV breaks and you want to replace it you are going to be left with the choice of two different types of technology that are on sale in mainstream retailers.  Then to add further confusion there are some “other” technologies that are just emerging onto the market to enhance your viewing pleasure.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).  In a LCD TV, liquid crystals are sandwiched between two transparent electrodes and two polarizing filters. Two grids of electrodes (one is horizontally aligned and another is vertically aligned) contact either side of the crystals. The job of this network of electrodes is to access each pixel of the crystal layer and control the electric flow.

A backlight device made of fluorescent lamps diffused by a white panel, passes through the liquid crystals. This white panel ensures that the entire surface of the screen gets uniform brightness. The front panel of LCD is made up of a grid of wires which are in contact with each pixel of the screen and activate it separately.  Some manufacturers have now opted to use LED instead of fluorescent lamps.  This has resulted in thinner, lighter more energy efficient TV’s.

With in network of crystals, each molecule functions like a gate to open or close the passage of light through them depending on the voltage of the current. To produce bright display, the voltage is kept low while for dark details the voltage is increased. By nature, liquid crystals always allow a smaller amount of light to pass through them making the pure black levels somewhat impossible.

Pros

• Slim profile
• Lighter and less bulky than rear-projection televisions
• Can be viewed from almost any angle, upto 170 degrees
• Less expensive than Plasma
• LED Backlit versions are very energy efficient, Light and slim

Cons

• Some models do not perform well with fast moving footage due to slow response times.
• Colours sometimes appear washed out.
• Generally do not come in sizes larger than 46 inches

Some top rated LCD TV’s from Sony, Samsung (LED Backlit) and Panasonic

Plasma.  Plasma screens are made up of tiny red, green and blue pixels which sit in front of Xenon & Neon gas filled chambers.  At the front of each chamber are phosphors, and at the rear an electrical source.  The electrical source ionises the gases which excite the phosphors which generate the light through the pixels giving you a picture made up from all the pixels.

Pros

• Slim profile
• Lighter and less bulky than rear-projection televisions
• Achieves better colour reproduction than LCDs, Upto 68 billion Colours
• Produces deep, true blacks allowing for superior contrast ratios
• Faster response times make Plasmas ideal for fast motion video
• Can be viewed from almost any angle, upto 170 degrees

Cons

• Susceptible to Screen burn-in and image retention (however newer models have built-in technologies to prevent this such as pixel shifting)
• Susceptible to “large area flicker”
• Generally do not come in sizes smaller than 32 inches
• Susceptible to reflection glare in bright rooms
• Heavier than LCD due to the requirement of a glass screen to hold the gases
• Damage to the glass screen can be permanent and far more difficult to repair than an LCD

Some top rated Plasma TV’s from Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung.

Others…

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode).  Put simply is a LED covered by an emissive electroluminescent layer composed of a film of organic compounds.  The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple “printing” process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colours.

OLED TV’s do not require a backlight and as such require less energy and can also be made thinner & lighter than ever before.  The technology is still very new and currently there are only a handful of screens on the market.  An example is the SonyXEL1.

In the current economic climate it saddens me to say property crime is a hot topic.  Many crime analysts are predicting a rise in street robberies, theft from motor vehicle and dwelling burglaries as a means for criminals to make some quick cash.  The objects they desire tend to be small portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, iPod’s, laptop computers, satellite navigation systems and some audio visual equipment such as DVD players etc…

These items are relatively easy to sell on for cash with typical values as £40 for a working sat nav or mobile phone.  There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself from a being a victim of crime.

Be aware of your surroundings.  Using your brand new all singing and dancing mobile that’s lights up like a Christmas tree in a crowded pub is going to draw attention to yourself.  Be discreet, consider using the vibrate function rather than a loud ring tone.  People will be unaware of where your phone is as they will not hear it ring.  If you do need to use your phone try to use in an area where people can not monitor what phone it is, where you are keeping it etc…  When paying for items try not to flash your cash around, and do not draw attention to where you keep your money.  If paying by card always remember to hide your pin and hide the card number from prying eyes.

Store items out of sight.  It may be common sense but do not leave items in view particularly in your vehicle.  Also be aware when exiting your vehicle people may be watching and may see you placing your laptop in the boot.  If you use a satellite navigation system be aware criminals will look for suction marks on the windscreen for evidence of a satellite navigation system.  These can be removed by using baby wipes.  Or consider investing in satellite navigation system holder that attached to air vents and does not leave suction marks, but remember to remove the holder and satellite navigation system when you leave the vehicle.  Criminals will often target vehicles left for long periods of time such as airport car parks and theme park car parks.  Remove all valuable items as they will break and enter checking glove boxes, under seats and in the boot.  Some people leave glove boxes open to prove no valuable items have been left there.

Don’t give things away.  Most modern satellite navigation system devices have a location for you to store your home address allowing for quick navigation home.  I would encourage you not to enter this information as this gives the criminal the advantage of a possibly unoccupied address to break and enter, especially if they have stolen the satellite navigation system from a car left in the airport car park.  Ask neighbours you trust to keep an eye on your house while you are away.  Cancel the milk and papers.  Set timers on lights.  Ask a friend to park their car in your drive occasionally.

How secure is your home?  When assessing the risk to your home pretend you are a burglar.  Think outside of the box of ways to break into a house.  Are all your windows lockable? Remember to remove the keys from the lock.  Use curtains to distort the view of what you have inside.  Letter boxes can be entry points, consider fitting a box to stop fishing devices (used for key thefts) or small hands reaching in to open doors.

Finally the best advice is make sure you have insurance to cover your home contents, car and car contents, and contents away from home.  Also consider registering your high risk items on UK National Property Register.  This is used by the Police and partner agencies to re-unite stolen property with their owners.

In an emergency always dial 999

An emergency is defined as:

• Someone’s life is in danger;
• Someone is at risk of violence, or property is about to be damaged;
• A serious offence is in progress;
• A suspect is at the scene or an early arrest is likely;
• Serious disruption to the public is likely
• Very serious crime (e.g. Rape, GBH)

If you have information on a crime you can call anonymously CrimeStoppers 0800 555 111

There are two important items of your outfit that will be noticed immediately on a first meeting, your shoes and your watch. The watch you wear is a subtle statement of who you are and what you get up to. That’s why it is important to have more than one watch in your top drawer, ready for every occasion.

These are what the top watch brands say about the men who wear them…

Breitling. The Breitling oozes engineering professionalism but don’t worry if you can’t put spare wheel on your Bentley. Wear a Breitling and your friends will think you build monster V12 engines in your garage that powers it. Breitling worked with the aviation industry in the early 20th century, inventing the circular slide rule chrono-meter and supplying pilots worldwide. That makes this brand for plane and car enthusiasts, master engineers, astronauts and of course Antony Worral-Thomson.

Cartier. This brand is for the dinner party host prefers to make their own hollandaise sauce rather than popping down to M&S. The Inventor Jacques Cartier lived life to excess even famously daring to combine steel and gold in a watch in 1978, so outrageous it worked! Then for art in 1983 the artist César proceeded to crush fake Cartier’s with a steamroller. True Style!

Omega. The Omega brands emit a very understated confidence dating back to the early jetsetters of Cannes, Marbella, Monaco and Rio. It is an excellent choice for top executives and James Bond alike. Omega has been the time keeper for many Olympic Games and also the only watch that has been worn on the Moon.

RADO. This brand is a bit of a left side punt for well educated pros. RADO has it’s own niche by combining such items as black Titanium bracelets with Liquid gold LCD’s. Just watch out if you have hairy arms as the bracelets are unforgiving. Best for combining with your black suit while you sip martinis in an exquisite wine bar up town.

Rolex. The daddy of all flash watches, what more can I say? Lottery winners and millionaire business men love a bit of Rolex. It is a statement that the wearer is quite happy with their amassed pile of dosh and is very willing to tell you all about it. But it’s quite alright you see as Rolex invented the very first perpetual movement in it’s waterproof oyster case. This separates Rolex into a different league in the watch world, remaining completely independent of other watch makers. Buy a fake and you will regret it, buy a real one and you will have many friends and admirers.

Seiko. A Seiko watch is the Lucozade of watches, projecting energy into its wearer who could be a personal trainer, martial arts instructor or even “The Man Who Knows”. (Yes I wear a Seiko!). As a brand Seiko is obsessed with quartz technology; and it also seems they have an obsession with bright orange second hands on jet-black dials if their Sportura range is anything to go by! Seiko watches belong to the future, but the best thing is we have them today…

TAG Heuer. A typical TAG wearer is a pair of safe hands who likes to travel fast, but be aware they may do something risky at any point! TAG has always been closely linked to motorsport, in fact it is the sponsor of a major Formula 1 team. And who can forget the classic Monaco Chronograph as worn by Steve McQueen in the film “Le Mans”. Get a TAG and you can imagine your Ford Focus is a Formula 1 car, just don’t send your speeding fines to me.

We all appreciate a decent cut of meat cooked to your liking at the local grill, but how do you recreate it at home without cooking the steak to within an inch of it’s life?  Listed below are the sort of times you look out for when cooking your steak, but a word of warning these are just approximates.  Once you get used to your cooking equipment and the cuts from your butcher you should then be able to cook the steak to your liking.

What you need to remember though is the right equipment.  For home steak cooking a cast iron stove top griddle pan is the only thing that will come close to giving restaurant results at home.  Make sure the pan is hot by using a very hot grill, you need to leave it at least 5 minutes before adding the steak.  The steak should have been out of the fridge for 30 minutes to 45 minutes, and dried using kitchen towel.  Whilst cooking the steak don’t move it round the pan, it should only move when you turn it.

Always cook the steak to the rare stage on both sides, then complete the rest of the cooking time after turning the heat down low.

Fillet or T-Bone (1inch to 1.5 inches thick)

• Rare:  2-3 minutes each side.
• Medium Rare:  3 Minutes each side.
• Medium:  3.5-4 Minutes each side.
• Well Done:  4.5-5 Minutes each side.

Sirloin, Rump or Rib Eye (0.75 inches to 1 inch thick)

• Rare:  1-2 minutes each side.
• Medium Rare:  2-2.5 Minutes each side.
• Medium:  2.5-3 Minutes each side.
• Well Done:  3-4 Minutes each side.

Smart Casual is the holy grail of men’s fashion.  Presentable, yet a comfortable way of dressing.  It’s effortlessness makes it oh so sexy, but so many get it so wrong and look like they have been dragged through GAP backwards.

Good smart casual is all about mixing tailored pieces with more relaxed items.  This is usually managed by wearing one thing with a defined collar, whether that be tailored coat or jacket, or simply a shirt.  This outfit by Next is a perfect example of smart casual and is made up of the following:

Black Moleskin Single Breasted Jacket £75

Grey Cotton V-Neck With Mock Shirt £28

Grey Vintage Jeans £32

And should be finished off with a pair of Panel Lace-Up’s £35

This look is not thrown together and all the elements complement each other perfectly.  The slightest bit of scruffiness could unbalance the whole outfit.  If the jumper was removed and a tie added to the shirt then the outfit would become too smart to be casual.

Bad smart casual is when a man mixes inappropiate items in a manner where he couldn’t care less.  Wearing trainers with your work shirt, tie and trousers topped off with a North Face jacket is not what this look is about…

As you know there is no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such a thing as a heavily discounted meal.  You just need to know where to look.

Restaurant homepages.  Most big chain restaurants have homepages on the Internet, and on these pages you may find sections where you can sign up free for newsletters or member clubs.  This is where they then post their deals such as 2for1 etc…  A good example is Wagamama’s

Vouchers.  From time to time the big chains will print vouchers in the national press.  But if you don’t read the national press where can you get the vouchers from?  The Internet is your answer and here are some of the best sites for vouchers:-

• Vouchercodes.co.uk
• Latestdiscountvouchers.co.uk
• VoucherSeeker

If you find any great voucher sites you want to share please email the Admin Team.

Complain.  You have to be very careful here, as complaining could end with you being chucked out of restaurant and never allowed back.  Only complain if there is something to complain about, and never send food back unless you want to insult the chef.  Food arriving late or very bad service can result in huge discounts on your bill but do not push for them.  Polite complainers are rewarded the best as they would want to welcome you back, angry rude complainers will be ushered out quickly and without much discount as they certainly do not want you back upsetting staff and customers.

Loyalty.  See if the restaurant offers a scheme to reward customer loyalty.  For example visit 10 times and your 11th meal is free.  A good example of this is Nandos.

I myself do not use chat up lines but for some these short one liners are extremely successful in hooking the girl of their desires.  Of course sometimes it all goes completely wrong and the man will end up with, if he’s lucky just a slap, or in some cases a glass of wine over his head.

The following lines are some classics, but boy are they cheesy.  Try them at your own risk, and don’t even think of sending your medical bills or dry cleaning costs to me if it all goes horribly wrong…

“Hi, I’m Mr Right.  Someone told me you were looking for me”

“I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I will certainly make your bed rock”

“Here’s 10p, go and call your mother and tell her you won’t be coming home tonight”

“That’s a great dress, but I think it would look better on my floor”

“Let’s go to my place and do the things I’ll tell everyone we did anyway”

“Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?”

“Hey that’s a nice dress.  Can I talk you out of it?”

“I’ve lost my phone number, can I have yours?”

It is sometimes hard to understand the female of the species, and even harder when you are just starting a relationship with a new woman.  Over the years I have been picked up, dropped, kicked, slapped, punched, pushed, pulled, shouted at and even had fruit thrown at me!  But I have learnt many important lessons through these experiences.  Follow the tips below to give you a healthy start to your relationship and a better understanding of women.

Women adore attention so it is important to be very interested in them.  The type of man women find most appealing is one that is intrigued by their uniqueness and fascinated by their mystery.  A man who listens, then asks questions and listens some more is exactly what they want.  Buying a present and saying “I thought you might like this” shows that you have studied the woman closely, taken an interest and hopefully understood her likes.

Turn off’s and turn on’s.  Most women have their personal turn off’s and turn on’s but the following apply to pretty much every woman I have met.  Sticking your tongue down her throat s soon as you first kiss – Turn off!  Gently kissing and nibbling her lips – Turn on!  At the restaurant, offering to split the bill – Turn off!  At the restaurant, offering to treat the lady,  she responds by returning the favour next meal – Turn on!  Generosity is a well known aphrodisiac, just don’t overdo it, or you will come across as an arrogant pretentious fool!

Be decisive.  Don’t be an apologetic, half hearted wimp.  If you are going to chat women up then be absolutely sure of yourself, and know what you want.  As the relationship develops they will want to be kept in the picture.  Don’t say “I’ll see you next week”, instead “I’ll see you next Tuesday”.

Remember your manners.  Whatever anyone else tells you women still like polite men.  Open doors for them, walk on the outside of the pavement, offer your coat to them when they are cold.  It will make them feel like Elizabeth from Pride & Prejudice, and make you look like Mr Darcy!

Compliment and appreciate women.  Uttering the phrases “you look amazing!” or “you are so sexy!” are never going to fail.  “I love you” is also good but don’t get too deep too quickly, it will only make you look desperate.  Don’t become complacent or too corny with romantic gestures.  A beautiful hand picked bouquet of flowers will win hands down over the heart shaped box of cheap chocolates from your local supermarket, obviously assuming the woman in question doesn’t have hay fever!

Personal hygiene goes without saying.  Women don’t want you turn into a reflection of themselves, but take care in your personal appearance.  Shower daily, or after the gym.  Clip those toe and finger nails.  If you have a body odour problem use deodourant, if it continues seek medical advice.  Clean your teeth, and check them after eating.  Women do not want to snog last nights kebab.

And finally if your relationship does flourish and you feel the need to pop the question, be unique, memorable and above all romantic!

Date of Visit – 9/06/2009 7:30pm

I visited The Ivy last month upon the recommendation of my girlfriend.  This was my first visit to the establishment and I was very eager to see if it lived up to it’s reputation as one of London’s trendiest places to eat.

When you arrive at the entrance you are greeted by a doorman, dressed in top hat and tails, lined with an ivy green material.  As he opens the door for you he smiles and welcomes you to the art deco entrance hall.  Here a lady takes your coats and shows you through to the main dining area.  My first impression was how busy it was.  All the staff were hustling and bustling around the room carrying as many plates as they could, it was a wonder no one crashed into each other.  The room itself is traditional to it’s 90 year old beginnings as an art deco after theatre dining room, delightfully decorated with dark wooden panels, white table cloths and fine silverware.

We were shown to our table for two at the middle edge of the room, prime spot for people watching.  The waiter immediately offered bread to us and left us with the drinks and food menus.  No sooner had he gone he was back with the bread and ready to take drinks orders.  The wine list is extensive, cocktail list is small but classic, and soft drinks are available.  My girlfriend opted for a classic cocktail; Bellini, whilst I stuck to still water.

The food menu is classic and not fussy at all, although we did need some time to study as there were many options to enjoy.  Unfortunately it appears time is a luxury not afforded to us, in the space of 8 minutes we were approached by three different staff members enquiring if we were ready to order.  It was only after the fourth member of staff appeared that we were ready.

I started with Bang Bang Chicken £8.25

Cold medium cut slices of fresh chicken breast on a bed of shredded carrot, lettuce and cabbage.  The sauce is rich peanut sauce with the lightest hint of chilli to give that extra little kick.  A very delightful dish at just the right portion size, although I felt the chicken had just come out of the fridge and I would have preferred it at room temperature.  Overall this is a well deserved 7/10.

Moving onto main course I opted for Slow-roast Blythburgh pork belly £16.75, which according to the menu is served with spring vegetables and scrumpy sauce.  What the menu does not tell you is that it is also served with mustard mash.  Due to this ommission I ordered a side of medium cut chips.  The portion size was just right and was presented well with the meat being the centre of attention.  I felt the cut I received was slightly too fatty, even considering this is pork belly!  The sauce was mediocre and lacking in the zing I would expect, and the mash was simply over flavoured with mustard.  I didn’t finish the dish.  A poor 4/10.

Had I left room for dessert? Of course!  And what a choice, no waiter was going to make me choose in 10 minutes flat, in fact I used the time to watch other people receiving their desserts allowing me to at least make a visual decision.  But what I ultimately chose is not that visual, I opted for Crème brûlée £6.75.  Now many restaurants have lost their reputations over such a simple, but challenging dessert.  It should be hard and crunchy on the top, but not burnt!  The middle should be rich, creamy, smooth and full of flavour.  I am pleased to say it was fabulous, although I did feel the portion size was slightly overwhelming and if I had finished my main course I would certainly not finish this dessert.  Outstanding 9/10.

Overall, The Ivy is one of those places you hear so much about that you are eager to visit, and when you do you will enjoy the food.  But I do not think you should be waiting up to three months for a table, only to be rushed by waiting staff into ordering.  I have known people who have been hustled out of the restaurant by staff, as the customers were taking their time enjoying the food.  Unfortunately there were other customers waiting for their table.

Overall good food let down by a pressured and rushed service – 6/10

All pictures and dish names copyright The Ivy